Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Around AmeriKa: Sarah Palin's Salmon

Nothing like salmon sausages for breakfast, 'eh?

"Alaskan dipnetting a catch of all things salmon; Tradition along Kenai River gains in popularity" by Mary Pemberton, Associated Press | August 5, 2010

KENAI, Alaska —The unsuspecting sockeye salmon soon were swimming into his net one after another, and Sean Boulay eventually had a string of fish in the cold water of the world-renowned Kenai River.

His catch was the result of a uniquely Alaskan activity called dipnetting. For a few precious weeks in midsummer, residents obtain free permits to dip homemade nets into the water and catch fish that will fill their freezers and pantries for months to come.

Each head of household is entitled to 25 fish, with each additional member allowed 10 each. That adds up to hundreds of dollars worth of some of the best wild salmon on the planet....

My newspaper sure smells like it was dipped in something.

The popularity of dipnetting reflects Alaskans’ unending appetite for all things salmon.

I never eat seafood, what with all the mercury, oil, corexit, and other chemicals infecting them.

There are salmon tacos, salmon souffle, and salmon salad sandwiches. Salmon loaf, salmon chowder, and salmon jerky. Smoked salmon cheeseballs, smoked salmon strips, and salmon pasta salad.

I'm already sick of salmon after reading that paragraph.

Dipnetting is an economic necessity for Susan Stockdale, 55, of Nikiski, who is unemployed. In these tough economic times, she said, dipnetting is a lifesaver for many of her single female friends.

Oh, don't you love it when the MSM gives a turd the shine and polish and carves a happy face in it?

“The moose meat from the winter season and the fish from dipnetting, that’s what gets us through the winter,’’ Stockdale said. “I know of many single mothers that rely on these fish and road kill. If there is nothing else, you always have your salmon.’’

Related: Michelle Obama's Appetite

Slow Saturday Special: Look Who I Had Lunch With

A Lunch Fit For a Queen

Yeah, the Obama's are eating good, though!

Stockdale cut short the interview and ran to get her homemade dipnetting pole in the river. Within a minute or two she had a large salmon in her net. She retrieved the 10-pounder, hit it on the head with a hammer, rinsed it off, and placed it in her cooler.

Stockdale pulled her green and white cooler, now packed with a half-dozen salmon, up to the beach, where she collapsed into a camp chair as she worried about money.

There is only one group of people who do not, and they benefited off this economic collapse.

It costs $15 for each 12 hours of parking at the Kenai beach. Parking and camping for two days can cost $120, she said.

Still, she figures she will be back: “It gets us through.’’

Thomas Runyon of Anchorage said he dipnets so that his wife can enjoy fish head stew, a dish she ate growing up in the Eskimo village of Emmonak in western Alaska. Laura Runyon stores fish heads in a 5-gallon bucket with brine and salt in the basement for a month and serves them with seal oil and bread.

And if I had grown up and lived there I would probably like it, too.

The trick to successful dipnetting?

“There is really no skill involved,’’ said Kevin Feller, a 50-year-old diesel mechanic who was dipnetting for a few days before returning to his job in the North Slope oil fields. “Stand there with your net and they swim right in.’’

Boulay had used rod and reel to fish for salmon before, but never a dipnet.

He took right to it, using a net with a 5-foot diameter to haul in fish, alongside about 200 other dipnetters along a 2-mile stretch of beach. In true Alaskan fashion, the 29-year-old Boulay boasted he’d never once bought salmon from the grocery storetoo expensive.

As he gutted and filleted his sockeye salmon and tossed away the carcasses, Boulay reflected on his newfound passion.

“I figure I was born here for a reason,’’ he said.

And you think this is it, huh?


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Why do all that work when they can just engineer one for you?

"Special salmon closer to approval; May open door to more biotech food" by Andrew Pollack, New York Times | June 27, 2010

NEW YORK — The Food and Drug Administration is seriously considering whether to approve the first genetically engineered animal that people would eat — salmon that can grow at twice the normal rate....

Related: Slow Saturday Special: FDA's Gulf Coast Feast

Yeah, I am really going to trust them.

Some consumer and environmental groups are likely to raise objections. Even within the FDA, there has been a debate about whether the salmon should be labeled as genetically engineered — something that is not required of genetically engineered crops.

The salmon’s approval would help open a path for companies and academic scientists developing other genetically engineered animals, like cattle resistant to mad cow disease or pigs that could supply healthier bacon. Next in line behind the salmon for possible approval would probably be the “enviropig,’’ developed at a Canadian university, which has less phosphorus pollution in its manure....

Time to STOP EATING MEAT, America!!!

Critics say the drug evaluation process does not allow full assessment of the possible environmental impacts of genetically altered animals and also blocks public input.

But why worry about that?

Agenda-pushing MSM thought it was an afterthought judging by the placement.

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Update: Ex-Senator Ted Stevens among 5 killed in plane crash

Also see: Stevens Gets Off

Not this time.